Joseph Planta on the 179 films he watched in 2016.

BY JOHN TWIGG: One of the major impressions to emerge from the B.C. NDP’s leadership contest that concludes Sunday (April 17) is that there are supposedly very few if any policy differences between the four remaining contenders and not many differences in their styles and personalities either.

BY JOHN TWIGG: Despotic hypocrite Harper triggered election in desperate bid to gain powers of a majority | Harper claimed he was forced into the election call but instead he could have softened his draconian Bills | The non-confidence vote was over his apparent abuses of Parliament and had little to do with the new budget’s array of vote-buying goodies.

BY JOHN TWIGG: Christy Clark won the B.C. Liberal Party leadership by promising major changes from the Gordon Campbell era and with her installation as Premier and simultaneous cabinet shuffle on Monday she began delivering those changes in a variety of obvious and subtle ways.

Recently, I wandered into First Used Books, an estimable shop on that strip of Kingsway between Broadway and Main. I saw on the shelf a biography of Louis St. Laurent, Canadian by Dale Thomson. Having no books on St. Laurent I bought it.

BY JOHN TWIGG: There are lots of levels and grounds on which the B.C. Liberal Party’s latest leadership contest could be questioned, including that Christy Clark could have won mainly because of strategy around the regional weighting system adopted shortly before the vote.

BY JOHN TWIGG: It’s apparent from examining the entrails of Premier-designate Christy Clark’s narrow win of the B.C. Liberal Party leadership contest that she won because she became seen as the one most likely to be able to defeat the New Democratic Party opponents in the next provincial election, but there is no guarantee she will be able to do so.

VANCOUVER – The latest quandary is whether to keep or throw out (actually, recycle) the several thousand magazines I’ve socked away over the last decade and a half.

Lists by their very nature are arbitrary and subjective just as they are inclusive and extensive. They are also opportunities for navel-gazing and hand-wringing; mindless chatter or serious discussion. Imperious deliberation might ensue, or a cavalier rattling off of personal favourites could occur. It’s usually once a list is finalised that the real work happens. The deconstruction and/or destruction of a list might occur—where one is placed as opposed to another, or why something was neglected altogether. As books are a significant source of discussion on this website it’s worth noting a couple of lists being culled and cultivated.

As it’s year’s end and I’m on hiatus from the interview program, I figured it apt to reflect on the program and what’s been wrought. This year, 171 interviews were produced for this website, of which all but three I conducted.